Nissan to set up digital hub in Kerala

Moving a step forward for setting up a digital innovation hub of Japanese auto major Nissan Motors in Kerala, the state government today issued an order to allot land to the company at nearby Technocity.

Once operations commence at the campus, to be named as 'Nissan Knowledge City, it is expected to generate 3,000 jobs directly and much more indirect employment opportunities.

Announcing the release of the land transfer order, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said in a Facebook post that government would allot 30 acres of land in the first phase and another 40 acres in the second phase at Technocity.

He claimed that the digital hub of Nissan, a major initiative of the CPI(M) led LDF government, would accelerate the growth of IT based industries in the state.

Meanwhile, a release from Technopark said the digital hub would be a research and development facility that would be shared by the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance, a Franco-Japanese strategic partnership.

Nissan's digital hub, the fifth IT hub of Nissan coming up here, after Yokohama in Japan, China, Paris and Nashville in US, will function as the nerve centre of the company's research in electric and automated vehicles.

The company will initially begin operations in 25,000 square feet in the Technopark Phase III campus, as well as other Co-Developer space, it said.

The company shall also be taking up space in the IT building that is coming up in Technocity.

Nissan's digital innovation hub will host a team of engineers and scientists, working to create innovations in automated and electronic vehicles space, release said.

"The Government's vision of creating a hub of emerging technologies here is getting into fruitification through this Knowledge City, Technopark CEO, Hrishikesh Nair said.

"With Nissan's strategic engagement, we are confident that we will be able to rope in a host of IT companies also to our state", he said.

The next step would be signing an MoU between Nissan and Technopark, expected by the end of June or the first week of July, he added.